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Background: Concerns remain about the human reproductive toxicity of the widespread per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during early stages of development. Objectives: We examined associations between maternal plasma PFAS levels during early pregnancy and male offspring reproductive function in adulthood. Methods: The study included 864 young men (age range:18.9-21.2 y) from the Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) cohort established between 2017 and 2019. Plasma samples from their mothers, primarily from the first trimester, were retrieved from the Danish National Biobank and levels of 15 PFAS were measured. Seven PFAS had detectable levels above the limit of detection in >80% of the samples and were included in analyses. Semen quality, testicular volume, and levels of reproductive hormones and PFAS were assessed in the young men. We used weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression to estimate the associations between combined exposure to maternal PFAS and reproductive function, and negative binomial regression to estimate the associations of single substances, while adjusting for a range of a priori-defined fetal and postnatal risk factors. Results: By a 1-unit increase in the WQS index, combined maternal PFAS exposure was associated with lower sperm concentration (-8%; 95% CI: -16%, -1%), total sperm count (-10%; 95% CI: -17%, -2%), and a higher proportion of nonprogressive and immotile sperm (5%; 95% CI: 1%, 8%) in the young men. Different PFAS contributed to the associations with varying strengths; however, perfluoroheptanoic acid was identified as the main contributor in the analyses of all three outcomes despite the low concentration. We saw no clear association between exposure to maternal PFAS and testicular volume or reproductive hormones. Discussion: In a sample of young men from the general Danish population, we observed consistent inverse associations between exposure to maternal PFAS and semen quality. The study needs to be replicated in other populations, taking combined exposure, as well as emerging short-chain PFAS, into consideration. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10285, Introduction Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been in use since the 1940s and now constitute a group of more than 5,000 manmade chemicals. (1,2) Their water-, dirt-, and oil-repellent [...]

Background: Assessing chemicals for their potential to cause male reproductive toxicity involves the evaluation of evidence obtained from experimental, epidemiological, and mechanistic studies. Although mechanistic evidence plays an important role in hazard identification and evidence integration, the process of identifying, screening and analyzing mechanistic studies and outcomes is a challenging exercise due to the diversity of research models and methods and the variety of known and proposed pathways for chemical-induced toxicity. Ten key characteristics of carcinogens provide a valuable tool for organizing and assessing chemical-specific data by potential mechanisms for cancer-causing agents. However, such an approach has not yet been developed for noncancer adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The objective in this study was to identify a set of key characteristics that are frequently exhibited by exogenous agents that cause male reproductive toxicity and that could be applied for identifying, organizing, and summarizing mechanistic evidence related to this outcome. DISCUSSION: The identification of eight key characteristics of male reproductive toxicants was based on a survey of known male reproductive toxicants and established mechanisms and pathways of toxicity. The eight key characteristics can provide a basis for the systematic, transparent, and objective organization of mechanistic evidence relevant to chemical-induced effects on the male reproductive system. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5045, Introduction Exogenous Chemicals and Altered Male Reproductive Health There has been a decline in sperm counts (Levine et al. 2017) and a simultaneous rise in the incidence of testicular cancer [...]

BACKGROUND: By disrupting the action of androgens during gestation, certain chemicals present in food, consumer products, and the environment can induce irreversible demasculinization and malformations of sex organs among male [...]

BACKGROUND: Several studies have described an increasing frequency of male reproductive disorders, which may have a common origin in fetal life and which are hypothesized to be caused by endocrine [...]

Byline: Ivan. Somoza, Maria. Palacios, Roberto. Mendez, Diego. Vela Complete penoscrotal transposition (CPST) with an intact scrotum is a rare anomaly in which the scrotum is located cephalic to the [...]

Byline: Laily. Najafi, Amir. Noohi Sir, The presence of blood in the semen is called hematospermia and represents 1% of all andrologic and urologic symptoms.[sup] [1] Hematospermia is an uncommon [...]

Nov 8 Heavy usage of painkillers during pregnancy might lead to a host of male reproductive disorders in humans. A study of more than 2,500 infant boys in Denmark and [...]

Benzene is a widespread environmental pollutant that has been associated with leukemia and various blood disorders. Prior reports have indicated an association between high-concentration benzene exposure and increased frequencies of [...]

More than 100,000 substances occur in wastewater effluent, including an array of endocrine disruptors such as human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, natural and synthetic hormones, detergents, and industrial chemicals. Studies have [...]

The concept of endocrine disruption emerged in the early 1990s with the observation that natural and industrial compounds were interfering with sex hormone signaling, thereby adversely affecting male and female [...]

Jul 9 Obese men have a higher rate of abnormal sperm than their physically fit counterparts, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human [...]

A body of research has shown that exposures to a number of chemicals can affect men's reproductive health as well the survival of male fetuses. Now a study in the [...]